Empowerment in Heels uses burlesque to call out unjust ICE activity in LA

In the vibrant atmosphere of Harvard & Stone, a bar located in East Hollywood and renowned for its live music and burlesque shows, Empowerment in Heels hosted the one-night-only Live Band Live Babes event under dim lighting and neon lights. The event aimed to raise funds and awareness for immigration rights.

Audiences were treated to a night filled with live performances that showed off the allure of burlesque and the rebellious spirit of live rock’n’roll. The event successfully created a platform for resistance and solidarity among those affected by the recent immigration raids in California.

CALÓ News spoke with Alyssa Marquez, also known as Miss Marquez on stage, about how the show came to be and how she uses her platform to teach communities to show up for themselves.

Originally, Live Band Live Babes had a different kind of show planned for the night, but as immigration raids rapidly increased, affecting various communities across Los Angeles County, Marquez decided to change the show at the last minute. 

As a first-generation Mexican American, Marquez witnessed firsthand how communities have been impacted by raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

“I was very much affected from the beginning, and knowing that just a few weeks later I had a show that I could use as the platform to make it a fundraising event, it was kind of a no-brainer,” she said.

Before starting Empowerment in Heels — a local, inclusive burlesque school focused on empowerment — Marquez studied ballet at a young age and finished her education with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance, Performance, and Choreography. The idea to establish the burlesque school sparked after attending the first Women's March in 2017.

Being able to speak to like-minded people at the protest, Marquez realized that there needed to be a safe space to take a dance class that provides an inclusive environment for all body shapes, genders and sexual orientations.

What started as one dance class for all levels every Sunday eventually became a pillar in the Los Angeles burlesque community. Now the school offers weekly classes, monthly shows and specialty workshops.

When making last-minute changes to the show, Marquez sought advice from various people regarding the different organizations she could work with where the money they raised could have the most impact. For Marquez's second fundraising show, she partnered with Immigrant Defenders Law Center, a next-generation social justice law firm dedicated to supporting immigrants facing unjust issues.

And needing to include more vendors for the event, Marquez reached out to Joey Pena’s screenprinting and embroidery design services, Generate Design Ink, to help sponsor and raise money. At the event, various hats were offered, which attendees could customize with designs that support the Latino community.

Before the show began, students from Empowerment in Heels, Twyla Noir and Lulu Delu shared about their process of transitioning their performance from a live band to a protest-themed performance with CALÓ News.

When they were informed about the last-minute change to the show, creativity and expression through their performance remained important to them, and they adjusted how they wanted their performance to be perceived.

“How can I use this badass spirit in my dance and create this as a form of protest? That was really important to me,” said Delu

Music played a significant role in their creative process, helping them deliver performances that were rich in meaning.

“I wanted to make sure that it wasn't just like, like a girl taking her clothes off to a song but using  seduction as a form of like resistance and protest,” said Noir

Similar to Marquez’s experience when the ICE raids began, Delu said they’ve affected her everyday life. “I work at universities. I'm a sign language interpreter as my day job, and just being in a college environment, I have a lot of students who are undocumented and it's been rough,” she said.

Both Delu and Noir agreed that, as important as raising money is, it is equally impactful to use art to provide a safe space for community members.

“Because art is activism, art is needed and it's going to continue to be needed to feed our souls with some type of happiness amidst so much chaos and fire in the world,” said Delu.

The fundraising efforts during Live Band Live Babes were aimed at key initiatives that support immigrant communities, with the goal of bringing people together to raise their voices against the unjust immigration enforcement activities that have been plaguing cities across the country.

What Marquez achieved during the event hosted by Empowerment in Heels brought the community together at a time when anti-immigration sentiment is heavily impacting local communities. 

“I think a lot of kindness, especially to our neighbors, goes a long way so that our neighbors know that we care about them. We want them to be safe and to know that we're here to protect them no matter what,” she said.